Re: Wessel Ten Broeck, first TB immigrant?

I descend from Dirck Wessels Ten Broeck way back in terms of the name. Through the marriage of Christina ten Broeck, of Jacob Ten Broeck on the Lockermans Patent at Katzbann in the mid Hudson valley, to the Rev. Gerhardt Daniel Cock of Germantown. I have heard a lot about Wessels Ten Broeck years ago. Some believe he was the part black male captain of Saint Adrians Guard (see master painter Hendrick Pots, circa l630)and the natural son of Peter Van Den Broeck. But it can not be corroborated. Possibly something to do with the "Knickerbockers". I tend to accept the mid Hudson Valley geneology on the paternal ancestor Wessels of the farmer Walter Ten Broeck of the mid Hudson Valley two decades past now, who was descended at least seven times (known) from Dirck Wessels Ten Broeck. I think mostly through van Rensalaer-ten Broeck lines. That Wessels was in the first troop of less than 30 Dutchmen to arrive at Albany in terms of the first Albany settlement, not long after Henry Hudson had set foot there. One white woman (that would have been Kate Three Colors who married a Repalje) came with them to attend to the troop. And of Albany, there were none earlier than Wessels. This conflicts with the "Knikerbockers" that Wessels was first owner of a tavern in Manhattan and then with a group set off to to conquer an Indian tribe and set up a settlement in New Jersey. But it does not conflict since the Dutch sailed back and forth a lot to Holland. The account of Walter ten Broeck would suggest along with other historical evidence of the Hudson valley as found in the many volumn Albany-Montreal colonial records that Wessels Ten Broeck, the father of Hendrick, Wessels, Dirck and Cornelia was born a number of years earlier than some may guess. Perhaps in the very very late 16th century. My own belief is that probably Wessels was the natural grandson of the Dutch Naval officer Peter Van Den Broeck (or Van der Broeck) but then although one may think they have correct facts, none of these are corroborated. I have read somewhere that Ten denotes a commoner. The origin of the son Wessels was probably very common. Given at Kingston, N.Y., a grant of two dozen acres of marsh land which would become his when he cleared it and an acre on high ground (where the Senate House now stands). There is a lot of rich high and dry land around Kingston. Also on a formal petition to his majesty in England Wessels signed his name Wesselten Broeck. As to status I am not certain how generous a grant of two dozen acres of marsh land along with an acre of high land was at the time Wessels was just starting up. It may have been very generous.James F. Lawton, Fulton County, N.Y.